THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 17, 1996 TAG: 9610170040
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Theater Review
SOURCE: BY MONTAGUE GAMMON III, SPECIAL TO THE DAILY BREAK
LENGTH: 59 lines
EARNEST AND intense efforts by a couple of veteran performers simply cannot rescue the Actors' Theatre production of ``Loot'' from problems that beset both the script and the staging.
Joe Orton's play is best classified as a farce and needs to be played at almost manic speed so that the foolishness and improbabilities skip across the surface of the audience's attention. Given the straightforward, calmer pacing of more realistic comedy, madcap hijinks turn into inanities and sink like the proverbial stone.
Not only is the pacing generally too slow but it is also remarkably uniform throughout. There are few of the contrasts between bursts of quick action and relative calm that give interest to a well-directed comedy.
Orton's plot concerns a much-mistreated corpse, a grieving widower, a rapacious nurse, a brutal cop and a couple of robbers, all embroiled in attempts to hide the missing loot from a bank robbery.
Two particularly experienced actors, Mark Versprille and Kathy Umberger, are cast in the roles of police inspector Truscott and nurse Fay. Versprille did memorable work locally through the mid-1980s and returns to area stages after a long absence. Umberger's talents have maintained her place as one of Tidewater's most respected actresses.
Versprille has firm hold of the hyper-militaristic, almost robotic precision of the power-mad cop, but he hasn't been directed to vary from one- or two-line readings. For all the furious intensity he brings to the characterization, there is an unmistakable sameness to everything he does. This production just doesn't use the range that he once revealed as a medieval clown, a Victorian adventurer or a futuristic rock 'n' roll performer, to mention a few of his previous parts.
Umberger finds herself in the same trap as Versprille. She simply hasn't been helped to find any intricacies of her character, or even any unsubtle variations of approach to her role. Both these veterans have shown many times that they can do much better work than this.
Still, they offer some relief from the amateurish grimacing, mincing, twitching, and grossly artificial facial contortions that the director has allowed some others to inflict upon the audience. If only someone would videotape this show, they might see just how terribly awkward and contrived all this mugging really is.
Perhaps it isn't fair to judge the talents of relative novices when some of the best and the brightest cannot even begin to approach their potential. One can only assume that everyone on this stage has untapped abilities.
In the same way, one should not forget that The Actors' Theatre has been earning a reputation for polished work and entertaining productions. One exception hardly destroys the trend. ILLUSTRATION: THEATER REVIEW
What: ``Loot,'' by Joe Orton, presented by Actors' Theatre
When: 8 tonight, Friday and Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday
Where: The Actors' Theatre in Pembroke Mall (near Proffitts),
Virginia Beach
Tickets: $12, $10 for students, military and seniors
Call: 557-0397 by CNB